Richard Holliday On MLW Going Dark Indefinitely: "MLW Would Never Put Us In Harm's Way"

Richard Holliday has been with MLW for about two years now and is a former tag team champion alongside MJF. AEW has since scooped up MJF but MLW has a knack for finding new stars.

Holliday discussed what the locker room at MLW is like when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast earlier today.

"It's truly exciting. MLW has done an excellent job of recruiting some of the best talent around the country. We can use myself as an example as you weren't too familiar with who I was prior to MLW. They took a chance on me, if you wanna call it a chance, and look where I am," stated Holliday.

"They've done that with several individuals and garnering talent such as MJF, Hammerstone, Mance Warner, the Von Erichs. Some people call it the future of wrestling but I think we're very much in the here and now with our MLW roster. There's a lot of good things that we're gonna be able to do once the world gets back to normal. This roster has exponential potential."

MLW was really gaining some momentum before the pandemic happened and Holliday discussed how he's managing his time during this period.

"It was totally from 100 to 0 as the last show I did was in Tijuana in front of 5,000 consumers for MLW and defending my Caribbean Championship," recalled Holliday. "It was a monumental event but now we don't know when the next time we're gonna wrestle is. So, it's very important to stay relevant and in the consumer's mind so they don't lose interest."

He added that MLW has done a great job of communicating with talent during this period and the performers are also using their time wisely by working on things such as character development.

"Being active on social media is obviously very important and you have to utilize what we have," said Holliday.

One of Holliday's last shows was in Mexico which happened to coincide with many sports leagues shutting down. He recalled that period and how he felt traveling to Mexico for an event.

"This was right when everything was starting to come out and people were freaked out. At the airports it was quite eerie and nobody knew what was going on. I remember the night before my flight I got a call from a member of my family and they said the NBA just got cancelled. Then March Madness got cancelled and this thing was very, very real," said Holliday.

"I was quite hesitant to go. I knew how to be pre-cautious and safe in these environments so, when I got to San Diego it was much more calm. I was on the East Coast where I think people were freaking out more. It was a lot calmer in San Diego because I don't think it was there yet. It certainly wasn't in Mexico so we felt good. MLW would never put us in harm's way and that's why you see what MLW is doing now. We're not running shows and doing the empty arena shows. We're not forcing our hand because we know it's not for the greater good."

As for not doing empty arena shows, Holliday was asked if there's been any discussion about MLW following the likes of WWE and AEW by running no-crowd shows.

"Right now I think they're standing firm on not doing them. I don't wanna speak for them or put words in their mouths, but I think the feeling in the company is to not do them," revealed Holliday. "But again, we don't know how long this is gonna be. Is it another year until pro wrestling can happen? We don't know."

Whenever MLW does get back to action, Holliday was asked if he has a dream match or dream opponent in mind with so many free agent wrestlers now looking for work.

"This is the answer I give everybody: I don't really have dream opponents. I more so have dream scenarios in a sense that the next time MLW comes back to New York, I wanna be in the main event," stated Holliday. "I don't care who it's against because I remember the first time MLW came to New York, I was in the opening match. Now I want the main event. I want the MLW Championship in the match. So I prefer moments and scenarios more so than wrestlers.

"But there are a lot of free agents. I believe Court Bauer is in talks with Mike Tyson which is quite interesting. Can you imagine a Richard Holliday and Mike Tyson encounter?"

Tyson has gone viral over recent weeks with workout videos in which he doesn't look like he's lost much at 53 years old. Holliday weighed in on those videos.

"I'm not releasing my videos the same way Mike Tyson is so you don't know what kinda of punches that I pack," teased Holliday.

Richard Holliday can be seen every Saturday night, 9/8c, as part of MLW Fusion on BeIN Sports. For more information please visit www.MLW.com. Holliday's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.